Nowadays, I don’t often get the chance to visit Shinjuku, but I sometimes wander aimlessly around Kabukicho between errands. As I watch people passing by, I sometimes stop and look at people or situations that catch my eye. But I don’t photograph them anymore. The area is busy and crowded, but the nights when I felt excited just by being there seem long gone. Now I even feel relieved at the distance between Shinjuku and me.

But no matter how much the people, the city and myself have changed, I cannot help but feel that one day I will be strongly drawn to the power of human survival that will probably emanate from somewhere in this area.

― Haruto Hoshi

The editing of "Shinjuku 1999–2008" was done by Michitaka Ota from Sokyusha.

-Book Size
200 × 200 mm
-Pages
120 pages, 117 images
-Binding
Hardcover
-Publication Year
2024
-Language
English, Japanese
-Limited Edition
700
-ISBN
978-4-910244-38-9

Artist Profile

Haruto Hoshi

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, in 1970, Hoshi has been exhibiting his street photography, mainly of alleyways in downtown areas, since the late 1990s. He currently shoots mainly in Roppongi, Yokohama and Nishinari in Osaka. In 2018, he won the Society of Photography Society Award for his 2017 photography collection Whistle, published by Little Big Man. In 2023, he was selected for the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum's “Contemporary Japanese Photography Vol. 20: Leap Before You Look”. He exhibited a retrospective of his career, including his latest works. His photography books include Luminance of Streets (Galleria Q, 2007), Whistle (Little Big Man, 2017) and Shinjuku 1999–2008 (Zen Foto Gallery, 2024). His work is held in the collections of the Kiyosato Photo Art Museum and the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum.

Gallery Exhibitions